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Not wanting to just scream MODO ROCKS! I'll try to give some real information on what it has done for me. :)

You know, it's a very rare thing when a tool comes along that totally changes the way you work. That happened to me a long time ago in the 2D world, but I never really expected it to happen in 3D. I guess I got somewhat set in my ways and just assumed that there were certain things or difficulties I would just have to live with. In fact, there were things I simply wouldn't try in the past due to the time and difficulty involved. Now that I am using Modo, I don't worry about those things any more.

Just as an example:
http://www.studioartfx.com/images/blog/forum06.jpg
There are some aspects of subdivision modeling that used to be a real pain! Dealing with cloth was one of them. It may seem like a small thing, but anyone who has messed with cloth probably knows how quirky it can be. Not the model itself, a sleeve is simply a cylinder, but getting the detail right for colliding with a body was murder. Usually I would end up having to just subdivide the whole thing and end up with a level of detail that the cloth calculations took forever.

Now, with Modo there are some OPTIONS! Just the ability to easily cut, move and add edges alone has made cloth work so much quicker. even to the stage where I can actually experiment. I can keep the resolution of the cloth at levels where the calcualtion can be super quick, so I can tweak the model, try it out, tweak some more and try it out again. Not limited to editing cloth objects, but designing them as I go! This has opened up new doors to what kind of costumes I can and am willing t do on my characters. Not only that, I am free to quickly add definition, just where needed on both the cloth and the body of the character to get the collision just right. These were things I would just avoid doing in the past! Now it's simple. In my mind, the idea seemed simple in the past, but I couldn't actually do it. Now the tools are available that make both possible and quick. Speed is everything to me.

There's even another level to it though:

http://www.studioartfx.com/images/blog/forum07.jpg
I don't always want to calculate cloth on a character in every scene. In many cases, it's good enough to have the cloth look like it was calculated, but put a bit more detail to it. Manipulating geometry like this was a bit of chore before, but something so simple as the ability to grab and pull, at any time, a point, an edge, or a whole poly suddenly makes editing a garment blazing fast. Every try to fit a belt or strap onto a character? When you see that little cut-through, being able to pull an entire face, or the edge nearest it really takes the pain out of the work.

Doing wrinkles in cloth by hand, especially those that don't just perfectly follow the contour of geometry has never been easy, or under time constraint even possible, before Modo. Now I plan and design characters knowing I can do that! That's the biggest gain probably. No longer limiting what I am willing to make because I dread having to model it. In fact, I've been able to actually experiment to a large degree, designing and modeling at the same time. My current project is going to be far beyond what I have done in the past just because of Modo. the stumbling blocks have been removed.

Speaking of freedom to experiment, there's something else I want to show...
More to come

harlan_hill

09-23-2004, 10:30 PM

Send that sucker over to LW/Maya/XSI or whatever you use, and lets see that cloth in motion!!! ;) Looks great.

I'm actually interested in seeing how well the data transfer is between the different apps.

Nando

09-23-2004, 11:15 PM

Speaking of freedom to experiment, there's something else I want to show...
More to come
What a Tease!!!

:scream:

Looks great cant wait to see the next steps ;)

bradpeebler

09-23-2004, 11:18 PM

Very nice models Terrence! Thanks for sharing the models and you experience. Can we use this entire page for a brochure? "Cut/Paste = Brochure!" :)

BP

teruchan

09-28-2004, 03:15 AM

Well, I said I would post more. Check out this image:

http://www.studioartfx.com/images/blog/blog192.jpg

Now I don't consider myself much of an architectural artist, mainly dealing with characters, and in the past I avoided it as much as possible. Well, as I was creating this background, I came to the challenge of doing this dome which you see above his arm. It may seem like a simple thing, but because of the ridges, I could think of no easy way to accomplish this in the tools I used in the past.

http://www.studioartfx.com/images/blog/blog215.jpg

Fortunately for me, modo has tools I have never encountered before. Even as I thought about how to d it, I made a simple cylinder. Because modo has the "edge extrude" tool, I simply selected the edges and extruded them. I immediately had exactly what I needed. After that I simply knifed the thing down the middle and closed the top. INSTANT DOME!

That's the way 3D should be. The tools support rather than stand in the way of creativity!

T

joo

09-28-2004, 03:29 AM

Thanks teruchan for your kindness to share what you have discovered.

Please show us more your wip.:thumbsup:

Memodin

09-28-2004, 08:09 AM

Teruchan, thanks for the info. This is very good. Go on posting.

(Also i wonder that, you said " totally changes the way you work. That happened to me a long time ago in the 2D world". What was that?)

Sha_Man

09-28-2004, 10:03 AM

Teruchan, thanks for the info. This is very good. Go on posting.

(Also i wonder that, you said " totally changes the way you work. That happened to me a long time ago in the 2D world". What was that?) He found a pen while walking in the street, that was that day he stopped drawing with finger tips =)

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